How practising the holistic massage posture at massage workshops in BS9 can change your life!

The posture that I use for massage has not only enabled me to easily give deep pressure and stay relaxed during sessions, it has changed the way I move in life.

Before training in massage, I did mostly desk-based work. I would spend many hours a day sitting on a chair, I often got a sore back and my shoulders resided somewhere around my ears. I walked bent forward, stooping my shoulders with my head down and the front of my body folded in.

The first thing massage did was to make me aware of how I was living in my body. This didn't change anything at first, but it was a revelation to see, for example, just how much I drew my shoulders up. As the course went on I began to notice this more and more, not just when massaging, but when making food or walking down the street. Just from having this awareness, over time, my shoulders began to sink down and sit deeper.

Sinking the shoulders down at massage workshops in BS9

One of the main drivers for me to learn massage was that I didn't feel comfortable in my body. This showed up in my posture. I didn't stand up in my full height or look directly out into the world; it was my way of hiding.

Slowly and gently over time, learning and practising massage is one thing that has helped me to unfold these long ingrained postural habits and start to fully inhabit my body. I always sit with my bum higher than my knees now, so I no longer get back ache from sitting at a desk. Every day I roll on a ball to release tightness at the base of my spine and in my glutes. I stand up straighter and move more from my pelvis rather than my shoulders, which gives me a stronger centre of gravity and means I can access the power of my hips and leg muscles to move me forward with grace and strength.

And the posture comes so naturally to me now that when I'm giving a session or teaching a massage workshop in BS9, it's like a gentle yoga or dance practice for my body, taking me into stretches and positions that help me to sit deep and stand tall.

Massage workshops in BS9 can be a gentle stretch for your body

It's a continuing journey; at the moment I'm working on opening up the front of my body and balancing up my left and right as I have a tendency to lean to the right and overwork it. But I know that the slow, gentle and graceful practice of giving massage is one reason that I am more at ease in my body and happy to call it home.